Republicans in Washington have announced an investigation into a uranium deal with Russia negotiated by the Obama administration. The move was seen by Democrats as a Republican attempt to deflect attention away from continuing investigations into alleged Russian meddling in last year's presidential election. In doing so the Republicans are moving to resurrect allegations that the Obama administration, in which Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State, mishandled the deal which gave Russia control over more than 20 per cent of US uranium supplies. Donald Trump and Republicans also allege that the uranium company donated to the Clinton Foundation to enlist Mrs Clinton's support - an accusation she dismissed as "baloney". The investigation centres on Rosatom, the state-owned Russian nuclear energy company, which began buying shares in Uranium One - a Toronto based enterprise with interests in the US - in 2009. Hillary Clinton Credit: Patrick Sermansky/AP Rosatom became majority shareholders the following year before later assuming full ownership of the company. The deal was approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a Government body made up of nine different administration agencies including the State Department. Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee insisted the new inquiry was separate from the investigation into its investigation of Russian involvement in the election. "Well, the current Russia investigation is about the election. This is more about uranium and whether or not government functioned properly or not," Mr Nunes said.